U.S. court postpones Abidemi Rufai’s fraud trial, as prosecution files fresh evidence

A United States court has postponed the trial of a Nigerian politician, Abidemi Rufai, who faces charges of $350,000 fraud, until May 31, this year, as the prosecution filed fresh evidence fraud against him.
Mr Rufai, a suspended aide to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, has been in detention since his arrest in New York in May 2021.
The U.S government arraigned him on 15 counts of fraud and identity theft at the District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma, on June 25, 2021.
He is accused of using the identities of more than 100 Washington residents to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
His lawyers, in January, sought the second rescheduling of his trial from February 1, 2022, to May, in quest of more time to review available evidence with his client, and for further negotiation with the U.S. government.
The judge, Benjamin Settle of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma, granted the defendant’s request on January 11, court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES show.
Mr Settle postponed the trial until May 31, 2022, although the defence suggested May 17.
It was the second postponement of the case within months.
The judge had, earlier on August 3, 2021, issued an order shifting the trial originally slated for August 31, 2021, to February 1, 2022.

Both the prosecution and the defence jointly applied for the earlier postponement, anchoring their agreed request on “the voluminous and complex” nature of the evidence submitted by the government.

The judge had acceded to the request and postponed the trial till February 1, 2022.
New exhibit, negotiation
But the five-month postponement granted in August last year appeared insufficient for the defence.
In his motion filed on January 3, 2022, Mr Rufai’s lawyer, Lance M. Hester, asked for further postponement of the trial from February 1 to May 2022.
Mr Hester said he needed more time to review over 100,000 pages of evidence filed by the U.S. government with his client.
“The discovery, in this case, is voluminous and complex. The government had produced over 100,000 pages of discovery material,” Mr Hester stated.

He also indicated that the government had filed more materials broadening the case beyond the original employment benefit fraud allegations.
Mr Hester said the fresh allegations include “fraudulent claims for tax refunds and disaster relief.”

“Further, in addition to the transactions described in the indictment, which relate to alleged fraud involving unemployment benefits, the government has also produced material relating to allegedly fraudulent claims for tax refunds and disaster relief,” he added.
He called for the postponement of the trial to gain more time, not only “to review the discovery with the defendant” and to prepare pretrial motions, but to also “further negotiate a possible resolution of this matter.”
He said failure to grant the postponement “would unreasonably deny the defence the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence.”

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Filed in support of the application was an agreement which Mr Rufai, who has now been detained for nine moths awaiting trial, signed with his lawyer to waive his right to speedy trial.
The U.S. government’s prosecuting counsel, Seth Wilkinson, was served the application but had no objection to it.
Ruling
In his ruling, the judge, Mr Settle, agreed with the defence lawyer’s submission, saying, “Failure to grant a continuance under these circumstances would result in a miscarriage of justice.”Advertisements
“The ends of justice outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in having the matter brought to trial sooner,” he added.
He then scheduled what he described as a “pretrial motions cutoff date” for April 8, and a pretrial conference for May 23 at 2 p.m.
The judge fixed May 31 at 9 a.m. for the commencement of trial.
Charges
PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Rufai was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York before boarding a flight to Amsterdam in May 2020.
He is said to have bypassed security systems at the Washington ESD using a simple feature of Google’s free Gmail service to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

He now faces 15 charges, comprised of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, and five counts of aggravated identity theft.

The court had, on June 25, adjudged him to represent a flight risk, and ordered he should be attending his trial from jail.

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